USA: LA approves proposal to ban smoking in outdoor dinning areas

The Los Angeles City Council said it has approved a proposal to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas in the city. 

The proposal would prohibit smoking in outdoor dining areas, and within a 10-foot radius of those areas, as well as the area within a 30-foot radius of outdoor food courts, food kiosks, food carts and mobile food trucks, the council said.

However, an exception is provided for outdoor areas attached to bars and nightclubs that require customers to be 18 years old or older.

"I think it's important that we have a practical way to balance out the needs of those people who enjoy smoking and those people who enjoy eating without the smell of smoke," Councilman Tom LaBonge said.

LaBonge, the council chairman and member of the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee, said he would visit several establishments which would be affected by the smoking ban before the proposal took effect.

"Before this goes forward, I'm going to be taking a field trip with the fire inspector, the building inspector, the city attorney, those for and against smoking in outdoor dining areas, to make sure there's a practical application to this," LaBonge said. "I want to make sure it works."

Esther Schiller, executive director of Smoke Free Air for Everyone, testified at the council meeting on Wednesday that the proposal "would help the waiters who won't be forced to breathe tobacco smoke in order to make a living," and allow those with chronic illnesses like asthma, cancer or heart disease to be able to dine outdoors.

Victor Franco of Cigar Rights of America, an organization of cigar manufacturers and distributors, claimed the proposal is still too vague.

Smoking is banned in Los Angeles city parks. Beverly Hills and Pasadena in the Los Angeles area have banned smoking in outdoor dining areas. Santa Monica bans smoking on beaches, in public parks, and near public buildings.

Source: Xinhuanet, 18 June 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/klt65p

Scotland: New drive aims to help 11,000 smokers give up

More than 11,000 smokers in the Lothians will be given extra help to quit in the next two years under fresh plans.

Targets issued by NHS Scotland have shown that, if successful, it would help reduce the number of smokers in the area by eight per cent by 2011 – a significant dent in statistics.

The local health board has already made considerable progress in coaxing some of the 140,000 Lothians smokers away from cigarettes.

But the Scottish Government wants more to be done, particularly among teenagers and pregnant women.

In order to provide the help NHS Lothian will have to find 11,000 smokers who are already one month into the quitting process. Experts deem this a key time where many lapse back into the habit unless provided with more support, such as cessation classes and one-to-one help.

More training has already been organised for community pharmacy staff to help cessation projects, while more staff have been taken on with the objective of reducing smoking.

Additional ring-fenced funding from Holyrood is also on the way, and the number of groups in the community has grown along with significant increases in advertising of the stop smoking services.

Recent research suggests that people living in deprived surroundings are 50 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer – smoking's deadliest legacy – than in wealthier parts.

Health bosses have also targeted ethnic groups who chew tobacco in another smoking-related health drive.

There have been encouraging signs. Last year in the Lothians 44 per cent more people tried to quit than the previous year, and more sought help from NHS Lothian, a tactic which statistics have shown to be the most successful way of stopping.

The health board's stop smoking co-ordinator Helena Connelly said: "We are delighted that more people are coming forward to take advantage of the many free and convenient services we provide.

"You are four times more likely to successfully quit with NHS help than you are if you go it alone and we look forward to continuing to help many smokers break their addictions in future."

Public health minister Shona Robison said the government appreciated giving up smoking was tricky, but adequate support would be provided for those who demonstrated a desire to do so.

She said: "Many people find stopping smoking hard but it's also the single biggest thing anyone can do to improve their health.

"So it's really encouraging that so many people are taking advantage of NHS smoking cessation services and trying to quit.

"Not everyone succeeds at their first attempt but the cessation services are there to support them as they become a non-smoker. We're also committed to stopping people, particularly young people, from starting to smoke in the first place.
 

Source: The Scotsman, 19 June 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/kjf4rl

USA: Ad Industry fights Tobacco Bill

New legislation that tightens the reins on tobacco marketing is roiling an advertising industry already facing increased government scrutiny and steep declines in ad spending.

Last week, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, giving the Food and Drug Administration power to control the manufacturing, marketing and advertising of tobacco products. The rules include bans on giveaways of nontobacco items with the purchase of tobacco products and on outdoor tobacco adverts within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

The bill, which President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law, would also impose new limits on magazine advertising, one of the last outposts of tobacco advertising.

Tobacco advertising has been declining since the 1970s, when TV and radio commercials for cigarettes were banned. The industry cut back heavily on magazine ads in 2000, under pressure after placing ads in magazines with many young readers.

Last year, tobacco companies spent $78.4 million on adverts in the U.S., with $69.3 million of that in magazines, mostly male-oriented publications including Maxim, Playboy, Men's Journal and Field & Stream, according TNS Media Intelligence, an ad-tracking firm owned by WPP.

Any further loss of revenue, even the relatively small amount flowing from tobacco, would hit at a particularly hard time for the magazine industry, which saw advert spending drop 21% in the first quarter of 2009 from a year earlier.

The ad industry opposes the legislation, arguing that it violates free speech.

In recent years, advert industry groups have pushed back against the U.S. on a wide range of issues, including prescription drugs and consumer privacy online. The Association of National Advertisers, or ANA, is currently lobbying against a bill that would ban broadcasting of ads for erectile dysfunction drugs during certain times of the day.

Magazines that have "a significant readership of people" under the age of 18 wouldn't be allowed to run a tobacco advert unless it was black-and-white text only, a "tombstone" in advert industry parlance. Tombstone ads would command a far lower rate than the colorful print ads that tobacco companies have relied on for decades.

Advertisers argue that their industry can regulate itself and that the legislation could set a dicey precedent for products such as alcohol and fast food. Last week's legislation would be "the most restrictive advertising bill ever passed in the U.S. for a legal product," says Dan Jaffe, executive vice president for government relations at the ANA.

A spokeswoman for Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American, said she can't give details on its advertising plans for competitive reasons but that the tobacco company "will be in compliance with the law."

A spokesman for tobacco maker Lorillard said it is "premature to speculate on what the future will hold." Lorillard plans to spend about $12 million on magazine adverts for all of 2008 and 2009.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, 18 June 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/msuztb

Australians spending AUD$7.4 billion  on smoking

According to a new poll, the average smoker lights up 14 cigarettes a day at a personal annual cost of $2,500, or a national total of $7.4 billion according to a new poll.

The poll of 1,100 randomly selected people reveals 18 per cent of Australians called themselves smokers, with more men than women.

But smokers say they would cut costs in other areas like entertainment and clothing before cutting back on cigarettes.

Smoking is also being blamed for lost productivity in the workplace - nipping out for a cigarette adds up to 17 lost days over the year.

Source: Live News, 19 June 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/rdyws5

Quitting smoking improves cancer surgery outcomes

Even a short period of 4 to 8 weeks of smoking cessation prior to surgery for cancers of the mouth and throat improves wound healing, according to a new review. 

Furthermore, if the patient stays tobacco-free, the risk of cancer recurrence is substantially reduced.

However, full cessation is required; simply reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day is of little benefit, Dr. Richard O. Wein from Tufts Medical Center, Boston, reports in the Archives of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery.

Although there are conflicting reports concerning the impact of short-term smoking cessation, Wein says, the sheer number of studies reporting the negative impact of continued tobacco use on postop lung function and wound healing "far outweighs those minimizing this impact."

Furthermore, multiple studies indicate increased risk of recurrence or the development of a second cancer in patients who continue to smoke after their cancers are diagnosed.

One study, for example, found that 40 percent of patients who kept smoking after being treated for an oral cavity tumor had a recurrence or developed a second malignancy.

Unfortunately, people with a diagnosis of a mouth or throat cancer don't usually have the luxury of taking 2 months to stop smoking before surgery, because an operation is imperative, Wein notes.

"In these scenarios," he concludes, "although the impact of short-term (less than 2 weeks) preoperative smoking cessation on the immediate post-operative course may be modest, the long-term cardiopulmonary benefits and the potential decrease in the development of future smoking-related (malignancies) with sustained cessation are undeniable."

Source: Reuters Health, 18 June 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/n7e4xq